Tourism fueling child sex in Mexico

Authorities want to rein in the prostitution that's rampant in resort areas

IOAN GRILLO, Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Foreign Service

Published 6:30 am, Friday, December 30, 2005

ACAPULCO, MEXICO - On a sweltering afternoon in this glitzy tourist resort, Alex Fernandez laughed and joked with a group of his fellow homeless teenagers until the subject of prostitution came up. Then his smile disappeared, and the face of the skinny 14-year-old turned to a cold, unblinking stare as he described how grown men, sometimes Mexicans and sometimes foreign tourists, regularly take him to hotels and pay to have sex with him.

"Yes, they buy me. The business gets me food. It gets me clothes," said Fernandez, sitting in the shade of a basketball stand to escape the blazing sun. "No one else helps me. What do you want me to do?"

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Despite a concerted effort to crack down on pedophiles in both Mexico and the United States, child prostitution continues unabated in Mexican tourist resorts such as Acapulco and Cancun as well as border cities such as Ciudad Juarez. Investigators estimate the number of Mexican children who are victims of commercial sexual exploitation — including prostitution, pornography and human trafficking — has increased to 20,000 from 16,000 in the past five years. Many of those who pay for sex with the boys and girls are American, Canadian and European tourists.

Mexican authorities and child-protection advocates say a weak justice system, police corruption and a lack of facilities to help homeless children have hindered attempts in Mexico to curb the problem.

"Mexican authorities used to be in denial about the problem. Now they are starting to address it," said Teresa Kilbane, the fund's Mexico projects director. "But the authorities still fail to give out solid figures on things like the number of pedophiles actually arrested or convicted."

A sensitive subject

To be sure, pedophilia remains a sensitive topic in Mexico.

Lydia Cacho Ribeiro, a journalist and children's rights advocate, found that out after publishing Demons of Eden, a book that claimed links between a child-sex ring and certain government officials, politicians, drug traffickers and businessmen.

A Puebla-based businessman sued her for criminal libel and on Dec. 16, Cacho was arrested in Cancun, accused of ignoring repeated summonses from a judge.

Cacho, whose plight has won the support of Reporters Without Borders and other groups, could get four years in prison if convicted.

Now free on bond, she denies breaking any laws.

Meanwhile, child sexual exploitation continues throughout Mexico. Investigators say some of the worst abuses occur in the famous seaside resort of Acapulco. In strip clubs, cantinas, hotels and private houses around the beautiful bay, about 1,000 children are victims of the illicit trade, according to UNICEF.

Hundreds of homeless youths such as Fernandez hang out on the beaches, outside the discos and in the central plaza in the heart of the resort where they are picked up by pedophiles. Men pay between $10 and $50 for intercourse or oral sex with the children, said Elizabeth Moreno, who heads a city government program to combat child prostitution.

In many cases the children are sold by pimps, who are often older homeless people with histories of being sexually exploited themselves, Moreno said.

Barriers to prosecution

Attempts to prosecute the pedophiles in Acapulco have had limited success.

Under the law, Mexican prosecutors need someone to file a detailed accusation against a specific suspect before they can take action. "Even if we see suspects we can't act. We just pass the information on" to prosecutors, Moreno said. "Sometimes, nothing seems to be done with it."

In April 2003, federal police arrested 13 Canadians and Americans, including one Texan, who they say formed a network that organized sex tourism and child pornography in Acapulco. In August 2004, two of the suspects committed suicide in the city's prison. Soon after, the other 11 were released when a federal judge said there was insufficient evidence against them.

Miguel Lopez, head of child protection for the Guerrero state government in Acapulco, said the defense attorneys allegedly bribed key child witnesses so they wouldn't testify.

The suspects should have been sent to the United States for trial, he said. "They would have nailed them there," Lopez said.

The U.S. government has stepped up its efforts to catch sex offenders, with President Bush signing the landmark Protect Act in 2003.

The law clarifies and strengthens cases against American citizens who have sex with a minor outside the United States or have planned to go abroad to have sex with a minor, said Los Angeles Assistant Attorney Richard Lee.

"The law means we can arrest these people even before they get on the plane and do the damage," Lee said.

The 2003 act also increased the maximum sentence for child-sex tourism to 30 years from 10 for first-time offenders and to a life sentence for those with previous convictions.

The same year, the Department of Homeland Security launched so-called Operation Predator, an initiative to investigate and arrest all types of sex offenders in the U.S. So far, the operation has netted 6,500 people, including 13 men who planned to have sex with children abroad, said department spokesperson Jamie Zuieback.

"We are sending out a loud and clear message to predators that if you commit a sex crime here or anywhere else you will be caught and convicted," Zuieback said.

FBI operations

The FBI also has been increasingly aggressive in going after pedophiles.

In a sting operation in February 2005, agents in California nabbed seven men who had signed up to go on a holiday to the Baja California town of Ensenada, where they were promised sex with boys as young as 9. The supposed vacation was set up by an FBI undercover agent who had infiltrated a pro-pedophilia group called the North American Man/Boy Love Association.

"We need to be tough in getting these guys off the street, so they are not out hurting children," said FBI Special Agent John Caruthers.

One of those arrested, Gregory Nusca of Dania Beach, Fla., pleaded guilty and was sentenced to 14 years in prison.

Criminal cases are proceeding against the other six, who are incarcerated in San Diego and Los Angeles. South of the Rio Grande, Mexican lawmakers are battling to draft their own Protect-style act to overhaul their criminal code on sex offenders.

Under President Vicente Fox, Mexico's divided Congress has been gridlocked over major economic and judicial reforms. However, federal deputy Angelica de la Peña is confident that Congress can pass a reform law on sex offenders.

"This is not a politically divisive issue," said de la Peña, who is in the left-wing Democratic Revolution Party. "We all agree that abusing children should be stopped."

The bill proposes doubling maximum sentences for sex offenders to 18 years, making it easier for police to investigate and arrest pedophiles, and giving authorities the power to shut down brothels that have underage prostitutes. Under current law, the maximum penalty a brothel faces for employing children is a $3,000 fine.

Educating the victims

Acapulco officials say they struggle to persuade children to stay away from prostitution.

Moreno, of the Acapulco city government, has helped remove 22 child prostitutes from strip clubs and brothels in the past year. They were taken to a refuge on the outskirts of the city, but all left within a few days, she said.

"A lot of them can't stand the discipline and they can't get their drugs in the refuge," Moreno said. "We can't put them under lock and key because that would be a violation of their human rights."

Gustavo Lopez, director of a government-funded Acapulco homeless hostel, estimates that 80 percent of the city's street kids are addicted to drugs, most commonly industrial solvents and crack cocaine. About half of them become victims of prostitution, he said.

The majority of the homeless children come from families where they were physically and often sexually abused, he said.

Many do not see themselves as being victims when they are paid for sex, he said.

"A lot of them see the business as a good way to make money," Lopez said. "They are used to being at the bottom of society and their self-confidence is already shattered."

Mexico's social services system is failing the children, said anthropologist Elena Azaola, who has written several books about child sex tourism.

"We have no institutions teaching these kids what rights they have," Azaola said. "The key to solving this tragic problem is to rehabilitate the children and give them some hope and opportunity in their lives."